With legislators coming back to Albany next week to plug the state's budget hole, there's an unfinished piece of business that -- with one simple vote -- could pump millions of dollars into our local communities without costing the state a dime. A bill to fight wage theft has passed both houses. All that's needed is for the Assembly to vote on the Senate's version and send it to the governor to sign in time for the holidays.  With this one vote, we'd finally have the strong tools to go after the wage theft crisis that is hurting communities across the state. In New York City alone, a study by the National Employment Law Project earlier this year found that 21 percent of low-wage workers are paid less than the minimum wage, 77 percent weren't paid time-and-a-half when they worked overtime, and 69 percent didn't receive any pay at all when they came in early or stayed late after their shift.

We're talking about the jobs that literally make our economy run -- home care and child care workers, dishwashers, food prep workers, construction workers, cashiers, laundry workers, garment workers, security guards and janitors. Hundreds of thousands of them aren't getting even the most basic protections that the rest of us take for granted.  And make no mistake, the problem isn't going away: These types of jobs account for eight out of the top 10 occupations projected to grow the most by 2018. (click on link to read full story)